Bill’s Gay Nineties

[CLOSED]

The name of this joint always confused me. Is it “gay” because they play piano music here? After all, we all know that the term “piano bar” is a euphemism for rainbow flags and shirtless bartenders serving lots of fruit-flavored drinks. But somehow, based on the ancient surroundings here, this is more of an old West, shoot out saloon kind of piano bar. You know, the guy with the bowler hat stopping his rag to duck a few bullets and then continue after putting up the “don’t shoot the piano player” sign on his keyboard. Anyway, the place was really, really old and looked it in a pretty cool damn way. And now, like so many of the other New York institutions, it’s gone. RIP the ol’ watering hole. [MF]